After years of hard work, many public exhibitions, workshops and meetings, and following a series of public consultations, the Vale of White Horse District Council has finally submitted its Local Plan to be independently examined by Government Inspectors. The plan sets out the Vale’s vision for the future of the district, taking into account the independently assessed need for housing locally. It maps out the main sites for new housing, as well as the infrastructure, jobs and facilities the Vale will need to support this growth. With infrastructure the key to delivering the plan, the district council is introducing the Community Infrastructure Levy, a new charge on developments, meaning developers contribute to supporting improved facilities and services. The levy will be used by the Vale along with other funding to help provide the roads, schools, parks, leisure and community centres, public transport and other facilities the district will need to support more housing. The council's Infrastructure Delivery Plan already identifies many of the projects requiring funding. The council's Design Guide has also been overhauled to ensure that new developments in the district are of a high quality, in keeping with their surroundings and well laid out. Around a thousand individuals and organisations made comments on the plan during the councils’ latest public consultation. These comments have been submitted with the plan and will be taken into consideration by the planning inspector who is examining the plan. Cllr Mike Murray, cabinet member for planning policy at the Vale, said: “This is an important moment for the future of the Vale. Once we have this plan in place, we will regain control of deciding planning applications in the district, rather than being at the mercy of developers appealing to the planning inspector after we’ve rejected their applications. It has been a long road to get here, but we believe we’ve created a good plan that will help the Vale grow in a positive way, creating strong new communities, whilst minimising the disruption for those who already live here.” Cllr Matthew Barber, Leader of the Vale added, “The Local Plan itself contains significant challenges, but it will also help to guide and control development in the Vale for the next 16 years. Over recent years we have seen the problems that have been caused by the previous failure to adopt a Local Plan, now is the time to correct this failing and start to regain control of our future.”